DHARAMSHALA, Jan. 5: Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) has reportedly said that China is recruiting Tibetan refugee youth in the Northeastern parts of India to provide strategic information in exchange for monetary gains.

The IB, India’s internal intelligence agency, has issued a string of alerts that China is approaching Tibetan refugees settled in northeast India to provide strategic information about the area.

According to The Print, a comprehensive report submitted to the central government will include how China had been targeting “disgruntled Tibetan refugees” in the region for the past two years and how many of the recruits have already left for China.

An unnamed source from the IB was cited as saying “young Tibetan refugees” from Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and other parts of northeast India have been recruited as spies. “It appears to be China’s strategy to make a base in India to create a channel, through which it can constantly receive relevant strategic information,” the source told The Print.

The same source also described the newer generations of Tibetans to be “volatile and vulnerable” whose desperation caused by unemployment and wish for a good lifestyle is tapped by China who assure money as well as job and education for their kids.

In addition to the report to be sent to Ministry of home affairs, the local police in the north east states have also been notified of the threat and may result in “scrutiny of Tibetan refugees” there soon.

There are five Tibetan refugee settlements in the Northeast India; Choepheling- Miao, Dhargyeling –Tezu, Tenzigang- Bomdila and Tuting-Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh and Kunphenling- Ravangla in Sikkim as well as smaller pockets of Tibetans in Sonada and Darjeeling area overseen by the exile Tibetan government here in Dharamshala, known as the Central Tibetan Administration.